The World’s Best Pancakes

November 8, 2009 by Stephanie | 9 Comments

Everyone knows that brunch is the best meal of the week. On Sundays I like to stay in bed late, and eat a real breakfast that nobody has time for during the week. So when the headline, “The world’s best pancake recipe” showed up in my Google Reader one morning, I bookmarked it and knew that I would be eating the most delicious buttermilk pancakes for brunch the next Sunday.

buttermilk pancakes

The only ingredient that I had to buy before I made these was buttermilk. The writer of the original post suggests using the best ingredients you could find, especially real buttermilk; apparently grocery stores sell impostors. Since I live in Manhattan, I easily found the real stuff, but if you live elsewhere, I’m sure it’s well worth it to search for it.

Meringues Chantilly with Roasted Berries

November 7, 2009 by Jessica | Leave a comment

As you probably figured out by now, I really like Ina Garten. I watch her on the Food Network all the time and own one of her cookbooks, Barefoot Contessa at Home. Every time I look through it, I bookmark more recipes to try. The day after I put a post it on her pavlova with mixed berries recipe, I watched the episode where she made meringues chantilly with roasted berries. I liked the idea of everyone having his or her own serving. I also liked the fact that the berries would be roasted instead of just fresh, especially because the raspberries I had were frozen (yep, from the same batch as the raspberry jam). I also found some packaged strawberries in the freezer, my dad probably bought those when they were on sale.

swirling

These were surprisingly easy to make, probably because I used the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. The hardest part was the shaping, but after one or two even that got easier. I didn’t have a pastry bag (uni-tasker!) or a star tip, but I did have a zip top bag and some scissors, and that worked almost as well. Continue reading …

Bizir, or Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

November 5, 2009 by Stephanie | 2 Comments

Bizir is the Arabic name for toasted pumpkin seeds. I’m not sure what the correct English spelling is; it can just as easily be bizid or bizit. There isn’t really a letter in the English language to substitute for the sound I’m trying to make, but it’s pretty much a combination of those three.

Anyway, bizir is something I grew up watching people around me eating. As a kid, it’s impossible to crack open the shell to leave an intact inside, so sometimes I would get frustrated and eat the whole thing (not a good idea). But now I’ve gotten the hang of it, and it’s a light and fun snack. My family often pairs bizir with dessert and after-dinner tea, but it can just as easily be a watching TV snack on its own.

Etrog Jam

November 3, 2009November 9, 2014 by Stephanie | 10 Comments

etrog jelly

An etrog is a very interesting fruit. You never really hear of it except for during Sukkot, and even then nobody eats it; we just shake it. It doesn’t help that they’re really expensive, and not that easy to eat.

This was my first experience cutting into an etrog. It’s a citrus fruit similar to a lemon, but you can’t squeeze the juices out. I guess you can use the outside like you would lemon zest, but it would be much harder, since the surface isn’t very smooth.

Jewish superstition connects etrog jelly to pregnancy and fertility. I have heard that it eases labor pains, helps a woman get pregnant, and can be eaten any time during pregnancy for health and luck.

Butternut and Acorn Squash Mac & Cheese

November 2, 2009 by Stephanie | 2 Comments

The cold weather means it’s winter squash season, as you know. And everyone knows those are the best types of squash. I recently got my hands on an acorn and a butternut variety and didn’t know what to do with them. Soup? Roasted? Boring!

After a long brainstorm, I thought to make macaroni and cheese:

Originally, I wanted to make risotto, but then I realized that I’d have to go shopping, and I really didn’t want to go to the supermarket, so I had to pick something that I could make with whatever I already had in the kitchen. Then pizza came to mind (I always have mini pizza doughs in the fridge), but I wasn’t feeling it. That’s when I thought of mac & cheese; I’ve read about camouflaging cauliflower in it to trick kids into eating more healthily, so why not put squash in it? I wasn’t trying to make it healthier, just different, but I went with it, and my little experiment was a big success!

Braised Short Ribs with Dijon Mustard

October 30, 2009 by Jessica | 3 Comments

I’m still not sick of using my dutch oven, and decided to braise some meat in them. I chose short ribs, a meat that can hold up more than two hours of cooking. This is a delicious dish for Friday night, but if you’re up for it, it’s easy enough to impress some friends with or make it for a special weeknight.

Homemade Yogurt

October 29, 2009 by Jessica | 3 Comments

Yogurt is SO expensive at the grocery store, especially the individual-sized ones, and I like to eat it every day. Many brands are also full of high fructose corn syrup. Yuck. I decided to try and make my own, and have been doing it for a while. There are a lot of different ways to do it, including using a yogurt maker – I don’t have one of those, and really don’t have room in the kitchen for it. Some people use the oven and set it to 120 degrees, but my oven doesn’t go that low. I use a cooler, and it works like magic.

Fig-Strawberry Jam

October 26, 2009 by Stephanie | 6 Comments

If you’ve been following us since the beginning (or if you’ve checked out the archive), you know that our first recipe ever posted was raspberry jam. We couldn’t believe how easy it was to make, how delicious it was, or how quickly our friends and family gobbled it up; we had to make more jam!

jam

Amish White Bread

October 25, 2009 by Stephanie | 16 Comments

I decided that instead of buying bread made with high fructose corn syrup I would make my own. How hard could that be? It happened to be very easy, until it came time to shape the loaves; the first time I made them they looked a little funny, but the bread tasted great! It was such a simple recipe, and made two loaves. I made sandwiches with one for an entire week and froze the other. That was a while ago, and these pictures are from the first batch of this white bread I’ve ever baked. Now I bake this about twice a month. It makes the house smell like a bakery and leaves my stomach and wallet happy.

Mehshi B’Laban, or Stuffed Squash, Dairy Style

October 22, 2009 by Stephanie | 2 Comments

I bought some giant zucchinis at the farmer’s market last week and wanted to make something special with them. This recipe gets its delicious flavor from butter, and is traditionally made with long grain white rice. I made a healthier version with less butter and brown rice. It had a delicious, nutty flavor. The recipe calls for slender zucchini, which probably would have been better than the fat ones I found. Make sure you scoop them out very well so the zucchini cook through. Continue reading …